New Mexico Mammoth Bones from 37,000 years ago almost double the amount of time humans have occupied North America.

Hiking at the Colorado Plateau in northern New Mexico, a man spotted a chunk of tusk protruding from the surface.

Overlooking a professors home. When investigated, an extensive collection of broken and scattered mammoth bones were discovered.
Including ribs, broken cranial bones, a molar, bone fragments, and stone cobbles.

A team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Texas now believe human beings settled in North America much earlier before. Evidence comes from the excavated bones of a mother mammoth and her calf that were apparently killed and butchered by indigenous Americans.

“There really are only a couple efficient ways to skin a cat, so to speak,” The scientist said. “The butchering patterns are quite characteristic.”

Many of the fossilized New Mexico mammoth bones showed signs of blunt-force fractures , meaning they’d been broken into pieces intentionally. Other bones had been shaped into knives for use in butchering activities. The wear and tear on these bone flake utensils, accompanies with christilyne ash and fire pit, made it clear that humans had been processing the mammoth remains to remove the meat and hides.

Did you know: Scientists use cat scans to x-ray and check test the bones. In the vertebrae and rib bones, there were puncture wounds, which means they had had drained them of their fat for cooking.

Bibliography: Kortsha, M. (2022, August 25). New Mexico Mammoths Among Best Evidence for Early Humans in North America. UT News. https://news.utexas.edu/2022/08/01/new-mexico-mammoths-among-best-evidence-for-early-humans-in-north-america/

Baker, H. (2022, August 10). 37,000-year-old mammoth butchering site may be oldest evidence of humans in North America. livescience.com. https://www.livescience.com/mammoth-butchering-site-new-mexico